Sauder Set to High Jump at NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships
3/9/2022 11:23:59 AM | Track and Field
Liberty’s Kennedy Sauder will finish off his fantastic freshman season by high jumping at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. His event is set to begin Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
How to Keep Up with Kennedy
The meet will be televised live on ESPN3.
Live results, including jump-by-jump updates, will be available courtesy of Flash Results.
About the Facility
Opened in 2011, the Birmingham CrossPlex is hosting the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships for the third time, following the 2016 and 2019 editions.
Liberty’s Ednah Kurgat placed ninth in the women’s 5K in 2016 in Birmingham, while Alejandro Perlaza Zapata took sixth in the men’s 400 in 2019.
The Birmingham CrossPlex also served as the venue for Lance Bingham’s final meet as Abilene Christian’s head coach before returning to Liberty, the 2020 Southland Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
NCAA Championship Event Capsule
Men’s High Jump
Event Schedule: Final – Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern
Liberty Competitor: Kennedy Sauder (Fr., Lauderhill, Fla.)
Season Best/Personal Best: 7-4.25 (2.24m)/7-4.25 (2.24m)
How He Got Here: Sauder has picked up right where he left off, following a stellar high school career at Calvary Christian Academy which featured a 7-1.75 high jump clearance.
Sauder has won three of four high jump competitions to begin his collegiate career. Sauder’s collegiate debut resulted in a Liberty record-tying 7-1.5 clearance at the Virginia Tech Invitational (Jan. 15) for first place. He later claimed the record to himself for the first time with his meet-record 7-2.5 effort at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational on Feb. 12.
Most recently, Sauder won the ASUN title on Feb. 25 with an ASUN all-time, Liberty, meet and facility-record 7-4.25 clearance. The mark would have won every NCAA Division I conference meet contested that weekend.
Sauder is the first Liberty men’s high jumper ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. Matt Parker high jumped at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2009.
Sauder is Liberty’s first true freshman to make it to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships since Josh McDougal competed in the men’s 3K in 2005.
Event Breakdown: Sauder is tied with Grand Canyon’s Ethan Harris for the No. 3 seed among the 16 competitors in Birmingham. The duo is just one centimeter behind No. 2 seed Tejaswin Shankar of Kansas State and only two centimeters behind No. 1 seed Roberto Vilches of Missouri.
A native of India, Shankar is the most highly decorated athlete in the field. He won the national title outdoors as a freshman in 2018 before placing second outdoors in both 2019 and 2021.
Earnie Sears III of USC was last season’s indoor national runner-up and owns a personal best of 7-6.5.
Oklahoma’s Vernon Turner has the most impressive personal best among Saturday’s competitors, clearing 7-7.75 in 2018.
Sauder is the only true freshman in the field. Middle Tennessee’s Omamuyowi Erhire is a freshman indoors but previously competed during the 2021 outdoor campaign.
What’s at Stake: If Sauder clears a bar on Saturday, he is guaranteed at least second team All-America honors. If he finishes inside the top eight, he will become a first team All-American.
A top-eight finish would also score Liberty’s first team points at this meet since 2019, when Alejandro Peralaza Zapata came in sixth in the men’s 400 final.
Additionally, a top-eight finish would be the first by an ASUN men’s high jumper at this meet. Lipscomb’s Gemikal Prude placed ninth in the men’s high jump at the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, marking the conference’s best finish in this event to date.
Sauder is trying to become Liberty’s first true freshman to earn All-America honors at this meet since Josh McDougal placed fifth in the men’s 3K in 2005.
